Gaçuça is an active member of the Occupy Wall Street movement affiliated with the New York City General Assembly. He works primarily with the Press Relations Working Group as well as the People of Color Working Group. However, Gaçuça is also involved with other groups within the movement.

In the beginning, Gaçuça was simply attending meetings on the Occupy Our Homes action to serve as media liaison. But his involvement grew from there.

"It became a very personal action about needing to make sure that this one family who needs a home gets into a home that is reclaimed for them," he said.

Before joining the movement, Gaçuça was an analyst on Wall Street (he'd rather not be directly affiliated with the institution he used to work at, but we can say it was a big German bank). Originally from Nairobi, Kenya, Gaçuça first moved to the U.S. after college and began working in the financial industry as an analyst.

After a few years he moved to London to pursue a Master's Degree at the London School of Economics. He returned to New York for a brief stint as an intern at the UN and then spent some time in media industry, working on documentaries and writing. He was also active in local politics within the broadly defined liberal and progressive community. Eventually, he decided to return to Wall Street. But when in September he lost his job as part of broader layoffs he says he, "found an Occupation."

Gaçuça told to us how the Occupy Our Homes action started:

"Occupy Our Homes has been planning this action since August, it is an organization that came together with OWS and other community organizations to come together and take back foreclosed homes....It wasn't a hard decision to come to it is sort of out there in the media and the public, it is common knowledge that there is a crisis in foreclosures. So it is only natural, especially at a time when we are no longer in the park that we continue our actions and making sure the needs of the 99% are highlighted. One of the biggest issues that we have currently is a foreclosure crisis and it is affecting families all across the country so it was a no brainer."

"We started the fight on Wall Street, it is time to bring the fight home," he said.

The day before the action, on Monday (November 5), Gaçuça first met the family and took them to see the home. It wasn't in very good shape, and certainly not fit for a family. This was his most challenging moment in the action, "realizing how much work needed to be done. I wish the family could just move in right away."

For the family, "Their reaction was 'Oh, hell no!" That it is going to take a lot of work. But they were excited that a lot of people were coming together to help them make a home of this house. And they recognized that there will be a lot of help," said Gaçuça.

Gaçuça spent the rest of Monday meeting with other organizers, discussing and planning the group's messaging and public relations approach, working on the press release for the event, and coordinating with other working groups involved in the action. Occupy is running increasingly sophisticated press relations and now provides press releases and spokespeople for many actions and events.

We at Business Insider have noticed that this is a departure from the early days when anyone would talk to media about Occupy the way they wanted to. As the movement grows they have begun to deal with issues of who can speak for the movement and what they should say. But, for a movement premised on being the 99%, any discussion of inclusion or exclusion raises questions about where this authority comes from.

In talking about the new media approach, Gaçuça said, "I feel as though we've done a good job of maintaining a certain amount of distance for them [the family involved in this action], while still making them available to media."

In recounting the day, Gaçuça said, "The most exciting part of the day was seeing the crowds arrive, that was quite emotional, seeing the crowds welcoming this family into this home and this community."

But the family still can't move in to the home. Occupiers are working to clean the place and prepare it for them. That is, if they can stay. The move into foreclosed homes is uncharted territory for Occupy and is definitely illegal so the risk of police eviction and arrest remains high. However, Gaçuça says this won't deter the Occupiers.

"This was a national day of action, this action continues. When the cameras go away people will continue to need homes and the banks will continue their dirty business. So this work continues."

He got some shots of the family and community leaders preparing to address the crowds.

As the press liaison he was constantly on his phone.

This security guard monitored the gate to the front yard, ensuring a calm media entry.

Daniel Goodman / Business Insider

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We got in touch with Karanja to get in.

Daniel Goodman / Business Insider

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Aflredo Carrasquillo is part of the family moving in. He said the goal of the action was to own the property and publicize and alert the bank. He said the next step is to reach out to necessary people for that.

Daniel Goodman / Business Insider

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Natasha 'Tasha' Glasgow, 30, is the mother of Tanisha and Alfredo Junior, and will be moving into the house with them when it is ready. They have been living in a foreclosed home in Far Rockaway, NY.

Daniel Goodman / Business Insider

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The house was definitely occupied by the time we got in there.

Daniel Goodman / Business Insider

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It was a long day for Karanja, and even when he headed home the work on the house continued.